Strategic insightsGoogle+ Pages: Start With 50 Posts

Earlier today Google launched the long awaited Google+ Pages. Like Facebook pages, It is profiles for brands and businesses. You can head over to Google’s blog to read all about it. But how do you start a page the right way? I’m not talking about the technical setup (that’s easy), but how to do it strategically.

Earlier today I tweeted:

Note to brands launching a Google+ page. Add at least 50 posts before making it public (!!)

It didn’t take long for several people to ask why, so let me show you what the problem is. One example (out of many) is when Journalism.co.uk posted the tweet below. It’s great. They are spreading the word, connecting with people, and they were very quick to get “onboard”. All of that is brilliant.

But when you visited their Google+ page, this was how it looked. There was nothing there ...nothing!!

It is a mistake that many brands and companies make when they launch something new. We noticed the same thing when people started using Twitter and Facebook. And, we noticed when brands started using Tumblr or other blogs.

They start off with nothing, but expect people to connect. Why would they do that?

Think of it like this. Imagine that you see a big advert in a local newspaper about a new shop, but when you get there all you see is this:

Nothing!!

You are not only wasting your own money and time, you are also wasting the time of your customers. People are not going to connect with an empty shop, neither are they going to connect with an empty social page.

Before you launch, you have to figure out what you are going to put into your “shop”. Then you need to fill up your shop with products for people to see. You need to give people a great first impression.

Have you actually thought your strategy through? What are you going to post there. /by Emily Davis

It’s exactly the same in the social world, or on your blog. When you start something new, post 50 things before you launch!!

Let me give you one example. When I learned that Google+ Pages was now available for everyone, the first thing I did this morning was to create the Baekdal Google+ page. Here is a screenshot:

It is a complete profile. If you look carefully at the page, what you will notice is that I actually posted 52 posts, images and links all on the same day. That is because I started this page this morning.

But it doesn’t look like it was just started. The page looks like it has been around for a long time. It is not an empty shop. It is a final shop where people can come, see what it is all about, explore the content, and follow the page if they like what they see.

You need to do the same. Never launch an empty page. It’s just like in the physical world. When you open a new shop, you fill it with your products and you give it life and a story, *before* opening it to the public.

And you need to add so much content that people do not reach the end, that’s why I’m saying 50 posts.

Note: For new blogs (with longer content) I usually say 15 to 20 articles.